Know Your Place
by Princess Zombie
Summary: Jim Gets upset when Bones blows him off to take a call from his daughter. Bones/Kirk, Kirk/OFC


"So I'm sitting next to her in lab and she asks me, in the middle of the damn lecture, if I'll set her up with you." Bones frowned, flipping over three more cards from his draw pile. He was losing again. Jim chuckled,

"What'd you tell her?" He asks, stacking three more cards onto the foundation piles, before Bones can grab his four of clubs to shove up there.

"I told her if she's interested she talk to you her damn self." Bones grumped, flipping another three cards over. He lost last week too. Their running score had him sixteen points behind.

"So what am I supposed to tell her when she come up to me and tells me you said to ask?" Jim smiled at all the cars he had stacked before him. He knew he was winning, and best part about winning was that he got to call the shots later. Tuesdays had to be his favorite day of the week, really.

"Damn, I'm out." Bones tossed the rest of his draw pile on the table. Double solitaire, like old men, they were, playing the same card game every Tuesday, keeping score from week to week. "And you can tell her that you're preoccupied." The vid screen blinked on, Bones looked up. His scowl at losing quickly turned to a huge grin as he stood and walked across the room. "It's Joey."

Jim could hear the smile in his best friend turned lover's voice. He'd never seen Bones actually talk to Joanna. He finished up playing and grabbed the foundation cards to start counting while Bones answered the call.

"DADDY!" The yelp filled the room, causing Jim to jump. He glanced over his shoulder to see the small female clone of his best friend beaming in her four year old way. Bones' smile was one to rival hers.

"Hey, Jobear! How are you?" He asked. Jim caught the sound of an older female voice, offscreen as he filed the scores into their PADD. The voice reminded Joanna to ask if her father was busy. Jim may have felt relieved, even if it wasn't nice. At least now he and Bones could-

"No, I'm not busy, I can talk." Bones explained, and Jim didn't feel betrayed, not at all. It wasn't as if every Tuesday meant cards, drinking and sex. Good sex, that meant something. Really, it's wasn't that important.

"Oh, I sent you something for your birthday. I won't be able to visit but I think you'll really like the gift." Besides, it wasn't like Bones was gonna spend all night talking to her. He'd be done soon and then they'd head out to the bar.

"Mommy said I can talk as long as I want because it's my birthday tomorrow!" Jocelyn came on screen with a polite smile and a wave. Bones adjusted his view and smiled at her with a genuine,

"Thanks, Jocelyn." Okay, well just because they could doesn't mean the little girl wouldn't get tired. And Bones knew it was their night, they could talk tomorrow or something. Jim knew he just had to be patient and he would have Bones all to himself soon. Maybe they could skip the bar, even.

Two hours later, Jim checked, the two were still talking. Bones grinning like a dope, and Joanna chattering on and on about playschool and grandma and showing off her favorite toys. Bones hung on to her every word.

So, Jim stood, grabbed his jacket and boots, and just left. The doctor didn't even notice.

"You must be Katie." Jim turned the charm up to eleven, sidling up behind the redhead cadet that had her hair tied in French braids. She turned toward him, even in the close proximity of the dance floor.

"Oh my god, Jim!" She grinned, her arms snaking up around his neck. She was a good few inches shorter than Jim, and attractively so, even with her freckles. "Len must have talked to you!" Jim nodded, shining a grin back down as they danced close, pressed up against each other as much as possible, surrounded by cadets.

"Buy you a drink?" He offered, causing her to sort of bounce-wiggle excitedly. She must have been a freshman, judging by how excitable she was.

"Sure!" She had to practically yell over the volume. He nabbed her hand and lead her out of the swarm. Once at the bar, her got her a long island iced tea, insisting she'd love it, and got one for himself to prove as much.

Near the bar was still crowded, so he offered her the only bar stool and stood close. Yes, he was pulling out all the stops. Why the hell not, after all.

Drinks down, she slurred a request to dance some more, and who was Jim Kirk if not a ladies man? He reminded her as such and let her lead the way. Dancing was short lived before she led him back to her dorm.

Jim swaggered into he and Bones' shared dorm, feeling confident. The lights were still on, which meant that with Bones had passed out; a likely situation considering the bottle of bourbon and glass left on the desk, or he was waiting. The prospect of the latter made Jim lose a little of his confident air, knowing he had done wrong.

Jacket and shoes stripped, he wandered toward the fresher, considering Bones was nowhere in sight, it was the only place he could be if he was still there.

Sure enough, Bones was there, cleaning. Shit. He I_was/I_ waiting.

In the hopes of going unnoticed, Jim turned quietly, spotting the chronometer display of 1am. He didn't think he had been out that long, but then again, he also thought he could get out without being caught.

"Jim." Bones voice was unusually quiet. Jim turned, watching he older take off the latex gloves and toss them in the disposal. He inhaled and mustered his irritation from earlier,

"Bones."

"Don't 'Bones' me, Jim. Where the hell did you go?"

"I went out. You know, like you were going to." Jim spat, walking past the other and slouching down on his bed, pulling off his socks.

"Don't give me that Jim."

"Give you what? Show you that I'm pissed off because you blew me off earlier?" There was long silence, wherein Bones' expression slowly changed. Jim could recognize that. He was hurt.

"Jim. Sit there and I want you to just damned listen, you got that?" Jim shrugged defiantly,

"Sure." He was little more drunk than he would have liked to admit.

"Jim, Joanna will always come before you. No matter what you say or so, she will always be first, plans with you, Jesus, or who ever the hell else be damned. You got that? If you're gonna go and get drunk off your ass every time that I talk to her, which is what, maybe twice a year? Then you can bow your ass out now. Joanna is everything to me, and I'm not going to let you mess with that, got it?" He was up in Jim's face by now, staring into the younger's blue eyes. Jim couldn't do anything but nod after that rant.

"Now." Bones backed away, "Get your ass in the shower, you smell like her."

"Who?"

"Are you really gonna play thins game Jim? I don't care who it was, but I'm not going to sleep next to it." He pointed at the fresher. Jim managed to get up after only falling once and shuffled into the fresher, closing the door behind him.

He may have showered longer than necessary, making sure to scrub every inch, nook, and cranny clean with his unscented soap for the brunette awaiting his return. And maybe, if after the shower he felt a little more sober and a little less angry, that was a bonus too.

When he emerged wearing pajama pants without a shirt, Bones was sitting on their shared couch in pajama pants and a old tattered hoodie, PADD in hand. He must have been studying, but Jim didn't really feel bad about interrupting. He collapsed on the couch next to the doctor and laid his head on the Bones' shoulder.

"'M sorry." he offered quietly, damp hair leaving wet marks on Bones' shirt. There was a long silence before the other admitted,

"I am too." with a small smile, he turned and kissed Jim on the forehead.


End file.
